Saturday, July 31, 2010

Preparing for Long Cruise 2010

by Caitlín

Unlike the past two years, this year the scouts are doing the majority of the planning for Long Cruise 2010. (Well, the adults are working out things like transportation, but they will be the ones transporting us, anyway!)

Even though each of us are planning different bits, it's been a lot of work, and makes me realize how much effort the Skipper and other adult leaders put into planning long cruises 2008 and 2009. At first it was really overwhelming and nobody had a clue, but now I think it's coming together quite well. Tuesday August 2nd will be our last pre-cruise meeting, and we depart from Henderson's Wharf on August 8th.

As our Boatswain, and as part of her Quartermaster requirements, Rebecca has been the sort of "general director" and has made sure people keep moving on their assignments and kept track of everything. She's done an amazingly good job of this, especially despite the fact that she was involved in summer activities and without internet access for the past few weeks.

Cameron, as the recently-appointed Purser, has done an excellent job collecting payment and making sure everybody is up-to-date on their dues (a requirement for long cruise participation).

Emily, our Yeoman, gathered everyone's menus, made sure we weren't eating the same dish every night, made grocery lists, and will be in charge of the shopping.

As Boatswain's Mate for Program, I accepted school of the ship outlines, came up with possible travel itineraries, and checked with der PeLiKan's captain, Commodore Steve Nichols, for the plausibility of our plans. After taking ideas for things to do and places to visit and researching marinas to stay at, the plans were finalized.

I'm sure there will be things we forgot to do--things nobody thought about, that we will realize mid-cruise and say, "Ooops!" but that's part of the learning experience. We'll deal with it, and next year, it won't be a problem.

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